It's Halloween Day and that can only mean one thing. What could you possibly be talking about, you ask? Why, there are new limited edition pins available for the holiday, don' you know. So, it is absolutely necessary for Chris and Minnie to get up at some ungodly hour and wait for the gates of Disney MGM Studios to open, and then wait in some ridiculously long line, all the while praying they'll get the pins. And not just pins for our collection, but extra's for trading. Aargh! Welcome to pin trading, and isn't it FUN! LOL!!

Jake and I naturally have a lovely morning sleeping in and enjoy a nice breakfast out on ou r balcony. The two of us walk through the lobby and spy several cast members in costume. A nearby witch offered Jake a sucker and he v ery kindly asked for one for his sister too. Awwww. Now who thinks that he'll really just eat it himself? LOL!! There is also a table set up with several carved pumpkins. The CM's are having a contest and there are different jack-o-lanterns from eve r y department. My favorite was the one made out to look like Cinderella's coach, complete with a Cinderella barbie inside. Jake likes one that was carved to look like pirate Mickey and also had a pirate ship in the background. I don't know what the priz e was, but it must have been a good one, because these were all some fabulous carvings!

We took our time walking out to the bus stop and lo and behold, here comes the Magic Kingdom bus. We climb on board and are soon arriving at the gates. I spot an outrageously long line at the pin cart, just more crazies trying to get the Halloween pin. Chris had said if the line was short, that I should jump in and buy some pins if I could. Apparantly there were enough pins for the first 100 people in li ne. I took one look at that line and said, yeah, right, and Jake and I continued on our merry way down Main Street.

The plan was to meet Chris and Melanie at the Partners statue at 9:00, but if we missed them there we would all meet at Big Thunde r b y 9:30am. I honestly dont' know why we pick the partners statue as a meeting place, because everytime we do, we never m eet up with the people there! So, if you'e looking for a good meeting place, let me be the first to tell you, this is not it!! Of co urse they're not there, and it's a few minutes after 9:00am. Jake is getting real antsy watching all those people heading for Fantasyland, so we take off running towards Dumbo.

We have a short wait before we're up in the air in our flyin g elephant. We notice someone riding with Mickey and that reminds us of the time Melanie and Jake got to ride with Mickey and Minnie. We waved furiously to Mickey all the while Jake has our elephant going up, down, up, down, up, down. Well, you know h ow it is when you ride Dumbo with a five year old! When the ride ended we rushed over to Peter Pan which was a wal k-on. We flew off over the streets of London and arrived in Neverland in time to watch the antics of Captain Hook and Peter Pan.

W e slowly walked over towards Big Thunder Mountain. Jake hasn't ridden this in over a year, since the first time he rode he was sliding all over the seat and was VERY scared. We know that he likes roller coasters though, and have assured him that if he sits between Chris and myself, we'll be so scrunched that he will not slide around. With much trepidation, he has agreed to give it a try. Well, now the time has come, and he's getting pretty nervous. We arrive at Big Thunder Mountain and sit on the big rock out front, keeping our eye out for Chris and Melanie.

Pretty soon I discover they are not here, as I see the same people riding over and over again. I try to talk Jake into riding with me, but he will not hear of it, so we si t back a nd have a little snack and people watch. It's hard for me to force myself to sit still and wait, but this is where we said we'd meet and I know if we go do something else we'll never meet up. Sure enough they show up about 15 minutes later. It seems th ey have just arrived from their pin gathering mission at Disney MGM Studios. It was a madhouse, but he managed to get the pins he wanted so he's a happy little vegemite this morning!

Hand in hand, we all finally head up the walkway to Big Thunder Mountain. Jake holds on to me for dear life, as he is so nervous. It's practically a walk-on and five minutes later we are boarding our train. Minnie has agreed to ride by herself and Chris, Jake and I all squeeze into a seat. I know they say you can fit three people across, but my goodness this is tight! No chance of Jake sliding in his seat this time aro und! W e'e off, and I warn Jake that the first part is dark and scary with bats. We make it through the tunnel and soon we are flying on our runaway train. It's a great ride and we all scream at the top of our lungs. We pull into the station with Jake beaming and saying that was great!! See, Jake, we knew you'd love it, want to ride again? He gulps, hesitates and say s, yes, maybe later, but not right now, okay?

We decided to bypass Splash Mountain and head for Adventureland. We take a quick spin on Pirates of the Caribbean. The whole boat starts singing along to the song, and not wanting to spoil everyones fun, we join right in. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me! We enjoy a great ride as usual, and spend some time in the House of Treasure and the Caribbe Bazar looking for a Peter Pan sword and a Captain Hook hat. We easily find both and make our purchase. The CM asks if we'd like to send it back to the room. Tempting, but no, these are props w e nee d for the Halloween party tonight, so we'll have to carry our own bags today, thank you very much.

Back out in the street, it's turning into another gorgeous day. Adventureland is packed though, because they have most of it blocked off in preparation of the new Aladdin ride and the Agrabah Marketplace. We debate about the Jungle Cruise and The Enchanted Tiki room but decide against them. Since there are walls everywhere, it's a terrible bottleneck with people all over the p lace, and we hurry up and enter back into Frontierland where we can once again breathe.

We end up at one of our favorites, the Ha unted Mansion. This ride has fastpass now and we notice the extra queues they have set up to support both lines. We also see that the wait for the standby line is set at 13 minutes. 13 minutes? Hmmm, very interesting. We walk ri ght through the queue and are soon let into the library so I guess the wait time is just a little bit of window dressing. As we board our Doombuggies, I notice that mine is numbered 113. Coincidence, I think not! At the exit of the ride, Minnie is dete rmined to f ind the ring in the cement. We let her look around for awhile, pointing her in the right direction, and she find s it. She wants to hear the story but I don' remember all of it, and there's not a CM around at the moment. I tell her we'll ge t someone to tell us the story before this trip is over as we walk out through Liberty Square.

We walk down Main Street, making a quick stop in the Camera Center before heading out to the bus stop. Luckily there is a Boardwalk bus just waiting for us and we quickly board. On the ride home we talk about our lunch plans. The original plan for this morning was to go to the Animal Kingdom and have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe with my parents. Usually when we change our plans like t his we would just blow off our PS, but since we have gift certificates, and Mom and Dad are still planning to meet us over there, we definitely need to show up. Jake and Minnie whine that they don't want to eat at the Rainforest Cafe and by the ti me we arrive back at the Boardwalk, we've decided that they'll eat sandwiches in the room and can get dessert at the restaurant. I fix a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese and crackers, mix up some kool-aid and the kids a re good to go!

We walk back out to the bus stop, and would you believe it, the Animal Kingdom bus is just pulling up. We can't believe our good luck with transportation this week! We arrive at the park to find my parents have alre ady arrived. T he restaurant is fairly busy, but we're seated right away. We are all the way in the back room, by the fountain, the place I hate to be the most of all. It figures!! It's just that this restaurant is loud enough as it is, and when you're by that darn f ountain, it's even louder.

We place our orders and the server brings out the smoothies for the kids. Grape for Jake a nd strawberry for Melanie. Jake has one sip and declares his awful. I take a quick drink and have to admit, it wasn't that great. Mi nnie says hers is delicious. We exchange Jakes drink for a root beer float and he is once again, a happy little vegemite. We take in our surroundings and are startled a bit when the monkey directly above our table wakes up and starts j abbering at us. T he jungle motif is a fun one, and the animals wake-up all throughout the restaurant. A gentle thunderstorm follows and we then begin the long and tedious process of waiting for our food to arrive. It seems to take forever and I do thi nk it took about 45 minutes until our orders were brought out. Everything was delicious, though, and our long wait is soon forgotten as w e hungrily dig into our entrees. Chris enjoys the catfish and I manage to sneak a few of his waffle fries, in betw een bites of my fla tbread with cheese appetizer. Mom loves the coconut chicken, which is simply scrumptious, and Dad has no problem at all polishing off his meatloaf.

It was a lovely meal, but we are ready to leave now, and is there any sign of our server anywhere? No, it seems he has mysteriously disappeared. I leave the gift certificates with Chris and take the kids to the bathroom. When I return, the waiter has still not brought out the bill! We are getting pretty antsy when he finally brings it over. Not wanting t o wait any longer, Chris quickly throws the gift certificates and ten dollars in the book and hands it back to the server. This would be a great plan, IF the bill was right, which I'm starting to think it is not. I begin to add up a ll the entrees and dr inks in my head and it just does not come out. Oh well, I'll check the bill when the server brings it back to us. Wrong! He brings back a receipt for what we paid, but not the itemized bill. Great, now we have to flag him down ag ain to get a copy of the whole bill. We sure managed to save a lot of time, didn't we? LOL!! We get the bill and discover that everything is right except that they have automatically added the tip. A-ha, that would account for the difference, sure, bu t what a scam they've got running here. How many people pay their bills without looking at it, and then throw a tip in, and when they want to check their receipt later, all they have is a copy with the total on it. Beware if you plan on eating here in the future!

Since nobo dy really felt like going in the Animal Kingdom, we decided to go back to the resort and go swimming, and rest up for our big night tonight. Mom and Dad agreed to meet us in our room at 5:00pm. We say our goodbyes and head out to the bus stop. W e spot the Boardwalk bus and make a run for it, but it takes off without us. Darn! What was that I said about being lucky with transportation this trip? We wave across the way at my parents who are waiting for the Fort Wilderness b us, when the Disney MGM Studios bus pulls in. Hmmmm.......wait 20 minutes for another bus, or g o home in a roundabout way? Let me think about that for a couple seconds. Yep, we'll take it!

We board the bus and a re soon on our way to the Studios. It drops us off right out front and would you believe, here comes a Friendship boat. Yes, we're back on track! Thank you, transportation gods! We disembark at the Dolphin and walk back over to the Boardwalk. Chris, naturally has to stop at the pin cart and discuss the whole Halloween pin fiasco with Leighton. He says he'll meet us at the pool. Whatever!

Back in the room, I gather up some laundry as the kids put on their bathing suits. Thankfully, t he laundry room is empty, and I quickly throw the clothes in. We stake out a spot at the pool and the Melanie and Jake go scrambling. I take the time to catch up on some trip report notes. At that point I still hadn't decided if I was going to do a rep ort, so my notes this trip are pretty sketchy. Chris returns in time for me to go put the laundry in the dryer and when I come back he's bought some pina coladas and mai-tais for us. Mmmm, now this is the life! I think this is one of my favorite parts of vacation, just sitting by the pool, soaking up the sun, drinking pina-coladas.

All too soon, it is time to head back to the room. I check my clothes but they are still not dry, so I need to start up the dryers again. I love that the washers and dryers are free here, what a nice perk! The kids start to get ready for the Halloween party tonight while Chris and I decor a te our balcony and the room with spiderwebs and pumpkins. We watch as the activities on the Boardwalk are being set up as w e work. I run into my parents in the hall as I'm running down to pick up the laundry. We all finish getting ready and head down to the courtyard.

A DJ is playing Halloween favorites and there are several activity stations set up for the children. Mela nie and Jake make ghosts out of blow-pops, decorate a small pumpkin with markers and crayons, and enter a guess as to how many jelly beans were in the jar. We get some pictures in front of the haunted castle cut-out and the kids dance and play with the o ther children. Most peop le are dressed up and the atmosphere is a lot of fun! Jake is Peter Pan and Chris is Captain Hook. Melan ie is so excited to be Jasmine because back here in Michigan having a costume with a bare midriff is pretty much unheard o f. It's usually quite chi lly on Halloween night! My parents and I have become mouseketeers. My mom is Cheryl, my dad Jimmie, and I am Darlene. We all receive several comments throughout the night on our homemade costumes.

Sorcerer Mickey makes an ap pearance and we naturally h ave to meet him. The line is quite long but finally it is our turn. Mickey is thrilled to pose with his mouseketeers and the CM's have fun with us as well. The fun on the Boardwalk was to continue until 9:00pm, but we had to leave to go to Mi ckey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! We headed down to the bus stop and it was sooooooo crowded. A bus pulled up, but there was no way we were going to get on it. Shortly after, another bus pulled up and we made it on, but it was very crowded as well!

We arrive at the Magic Kingdom around 6:30pm and were handed a trick-or-treat bag with a MNSSHP sticker and a small sampling of candy. We join the massive lines of people waiting to get in. We then realize that the lines were moving! Woo-hoo, they're letting us in early! We walk in to Main Street, taking some time to admire the effects. There is fog everywhere, and giant pumpkin balloons floating above the railroad station. Images of ghosts and pumpkins are projected on the Main Street buildings and the castle. The whole effect is very neat. We slowly walk down Main Street, thinkin g that nothing will be open yet. Sure enough,the bridges to Adventureland, Liberty Square and Tomorrowland are roped off. People a re heading for the castle, though, so we follow the crowd and discover Fantasyland is open. We need to show our orange wristbands, and then we are let in.

As we pass through the castle, we discover Cinderella's carri age and it is absolutely breat htakingly beautiful. Circling the carriage are all kinds of characters, including the Fairy God mother. Over by the Lion King show there are crowds of people waiting to get their picture taken. We decide to wait and hopef ully find a shorter line somewhere. We head over to Snow White and walk right on. Dad is quite surprised, you mean we're going to ride rides tonight? Don't worry dad, this is the Magic Kingdom, we're not going to take you on anything you can't handle. LOL!!

After Snow White, we run over to the Carouselfor a quick spin and then Chris decides he and Jake are appropriately dressed to ride Peter Pan. We hurry over and again, walk right on. Hey, this is great! I disc over there is another picture t aking spot at It's a Small World, so we go there next to get our complimentary picture taken. This is also a trick-or-treat station and the CM asks us for the magic word. Dad and I look at each other and guess, um..please?No, the CM laughs. Mickey Mouse? thinks my dad. Nope! Melanie smacks us both, looks at the CM and smugly says trick-or-treat and is promptly given a handful of candy!! Dad and I are laughing so hard, some mouseketeers we are!! We say th e obligatory trick-or-treat and are also treated to some candy. As we approach the photographer we decide to take one picture with Chris and the kids, and one with the 3 mouseketeers. Jake has a fit because he thinks we are going to make him go on It's a Small World,and he plugs his ears the whole time! He's puzzled when we exit without riding, but he's happy, because he has spotted another trick-or-treat station.

We all line up and are treated to a handful of c andy. M&M's, Snickers, Butterfin gers, yum!! We rush off to the Haunted Mansion. Standby wait time is still 13 minutes. I don't think so, and we walk right on. The CM's here are all decked out for Halloween. They are wearing their normal cost umes, but have their faces and hair done up so they look like the living dead. There are 2 girls welcoming us to the stretching room, and they are a real hoot, acting over the top. At the exit there is another trick-or-treat station and we are again given handfuls of candy. Chris asks the CM's working there if there is anyone who can tell us the story of Master Gracey and the weddi ng ring in the cement. He asks us to wait a minute until this next rush of people comes through.

We're kind of standing off to the side, and my parents do n't really understand why, but then the CM comes over and shares the story of Master Gracey and his young bride. It seems she loved to play games and tricks on him. Madame Leota had also fallen in love with the Master and saw a way to get rid of the you ng woman. On her wedding day, the young bride decided to play hide and seek and climbed into the trunk in the attic. Madame Leota locked the trunk and the young woman suffocated. Overcome with grief, Master Gracey or dered Madame Leota to bring back her spirit so he could say good-bye to his bride. Worried that she wou ld then tell the Master what h ad really happened, Madame Leota arranged for the bride to appear, but to be unable to speak. As she was performing th e seance, an act she was not too good at, she managed to bring back 999 spirits. Master Gracey went out o f his mind, threw the wedding ring out of the window, where it landed in the wet cement, and hung himself. The spirits, including the haunts, and o f course his faithful servents (the CM&'s) remain to watch over the manor.

We thank the CM for the great retelling of the story and w alk back into Liberty Square. We'e stopped almost immediately by another trick-or-treat station and fill up our bags once again. As we walk throu gh Frontierland we see several characters milling about and yet another trick-or-treat station. The CM fills up our bags with Nestle Crunch, tootsie rolls, sprees, and Hershey bars. High above Pecos Bills, we see a huge Mickey balloon with a ghos t sheet over it.

We find our way into Adventureland, grab some more candy and hit Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, we walk right on and enjoy a great ride. At the exit we find, you guessed it! another trick-or-treat station. We al so discover a huge inflated Captain Hook so naturally we must stop and get a picture taken here! Back in Frontierland they are lining up for the first showing of the Halloween parade. We decide to head over to Tomorrowland and wait for the second parade. Of course this means fighting through the crowds and taking a roundabout way to get there, but we arrive unscathed. I even think we found a couple of trick-or-treat stations along the way!

Jake is screaming for Buzz so we naturally go t here first. There is a short line, maybe five minutes and we're o ff battling the forces of evil und er Buzz Lightyears command. Afterwards, everyone starts to have a minor meltdown and we decide we must have food. The original plan was to have pizza i n the room before the party but with all the Boardwalk activites goi ng on, we kind of threw that plan out the window.

We decide we simply must eat Casey's hot dogs, so we fight the crowds now lining up for the fi reworks and find ourselves in the slowest moving line possible! Aaarggh!! Finally we order some hot dogs, fr ies and cokes as Chris comes run ning in saying the fireworks are about to start. We find a great spot in front of the river over by the Pla za Restaurant just as the lights dim, and the fireworks start. We have a great view from our little table by the river AND we're sitting down! The fireworks are wonderful and besides the traditional ones behind the castle, there are ones shot off be hind the shops on Main Street too. And t hen from the top of the castle, a witch comes flying down! Everyone was surprised (well, except for m e, but hey, I've got to hold back some secrets, don't I?) The witch flew right over our heads, and then there was the finale of the fireworks. The whole spectacle was just wonderful!

We finished our dinner and decided to see what we could ride in Fantasyland before the parade. There were a lot of characters out again, including Prince Charming and Cind erella by their carriage. The kids want Dumbo so we join the line. Chris and Dad decide to sit this one o ut. This was probably a good thing since Jake was getting ever-so-slightly cranky, and complaining about the line (which was only about a 1 5 minute wait, but we really are getting so spoiled!) We enjoy our ride and meet up with Dad and Chris, who say it is time to find a spot for the parade. We find our usual, secret spot to be not very crowded and we settle in to wait. It's not long befo re we see the headless horseman galloping across the bridge.

Everyone digs into their candy bags for a little sn ack before the parade starts. Soon it's coming our way and it is simply wonderful. So many characters, and ones you don' usually see! Th ere were floats from Hercules with Pain & Panic, and Hades, 101 dalmatians with Cruella, Horace and Jasper and of co urse the puppies, Pooh chara cters dressed up in costume, Mickey and friends, and the Villains from the Every Day's A Holiday Show - Capta in Hook and Malicifent. Everyone agreed i t was a fantastic parade!

By now we're all exhausted and even though there's still an hour to go, we de cide to call it a night. Chris leads me to a bridge I've never seen before. He insists it's always been h ere, but I could swear it was not here on our last visit. It gets us to Main Street quicker though, so I'm not complaining.

We hit a couple more trick or treat stations on the way out and arrive back at the bus stop. We are first in line at the Boar dwalk stop so this can' be a good sign. It doesn't take long, though, before a huge line has formed behind us. The driver from the Swan and Dolphin bus comes over and offers to take us. We file on and luckily grab some seats. Melanie and Ja ke are asleep within minutes. I think ever y child on that bus was. LOL!!

We make the long trek home stopping at the Swan, the Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club and finally the Boardwalk where we carry the kids back t o the room.

We say good-night to my paren ts and close the door on a fabulous, memory-filled Halloween.

Next Post:

Wi ll Chris get his precious pin of the month? Will Beth finally get to try a beavertail? Can the girls prevail over the guys in min iature golf? and Can the Czadas actually have a relaxing day at Walt Disney World?